For ZIP 96797, the distinctive decision question is how a current marketwide asking-rent signal should be read beside household and housing-survey evidence, rather than treating a figure as the rent for every home. In June 2026, Zillow’s ZORI is $2,876 per month, up 5.36% from a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is a ZIP-level market indicator rather than a unit quote. The five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP.
In the ACS 2024 five-year survey for the matched ZCTA, 6,729 renter-occupied homes sit within 20,564 occupied homes, yielding a 32.7% renter share. Median household income is $114,654 and carries reported survey uncertainty. Applying the current ZIP index to a 30% annual-income screen produces $115,040; that screen is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. Separately, ACS observes 3,603 renter households reporting gross-rent burdens at the 30% threshold or above, or 53.5% of its renter-household total. This is an area-level survey result for occupied renter homes, not a conclusion about any household.
ACS and Zillow answer different questions. The ACS median gross rent is $1,997, with a ±$94 margin of error, and is a five-year survey measure of occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities. The current ZORI sits 44.0% above that ACS median, a cross-universe comparison that cannot be read as a change in rents, a price premium, or a like-for-like gap. HUD’s FY2026 two-bedroom standard is $2,430; it is an administrative bedroom-specific FMR/SAFMR standard, not asking rent. ZORI is above that HUD standard, a comparison of reference levels only, with neither source recast as the other.
Bedroom figures provide a way to express relative scale, not an observation of available listings. The model scales ZIP ZORI by ratios from the local HUD ladder, producing modelled monthly ZIP estimates—not measured bedroom rents—of $2,048 for a studio, $2,190 for one bedroom, $2,876 for two bedrooms, $4,000 for three bedrooms, and $4,829 for four bedrooms. The provided HUD standards beneath that ladder are $1,730, $1,850, $2,430, $3,380, and $4,080, respectively. Thus, the ladder preserves HUD’s local bedroom relationships while anchoring its overall level to the blended ZIP ZORI; it does not reveal the rent, condition, utility treatment, or availability of a specific dwelling.
Housing-stock evidence provides a separate inventory frame. The ZCTA reports 21,575 housing units: 20,564 occupied and 1,011 vacant, for a 4.7% vacancy rate. Of all units, 13,197 are single-family and 1,440 are in large multifamily structures. Vacancy categories show 339 units vacant for rent, 116 vacant for sale, and 115 held for seasonal use. Total vacancy therefore is not a count of live rental listings, and the for-rent count is a survey category rather than confirmation of a currently marketable unit. The survey’s stock and vacancy categories cannot establish what is available on any property search date.
Broader geography provides context only, with no replacement of the ZIP or ZCTA evidence: at the Waipahu city context scope, the context rent is $2,876.33; at the Honolulu County context scope, the context rent is $3,038; and at the Urban Honolulu, HI metro context scope, the context rent is $3,038. The city context is nearly aligned with the ZIP index, whereas the county and metro context levels are higher. Those wider figures help locate the ZIP-level reading within explicitly named comparison scopes, but they do not alter the ZORI definition, convert ACS gross rent into asking rent, or identify the rent for a given building. Nor do context comparisons provide a property inventory, a rental transaction, or a direct observation of a ZIP household.
Important limits remain. ZORI is an index rather than a listing-level transaction or contract record; ACS describes a ZCTA survey period and reports sampling uncertainty; and HUD is a policy standard. Each series also has a different reference date, population, and construction method. Apparent disagreement may reflect those design differences and cannot by itself establish movement, quality differences, or a common market price. The provided information contains no listing-level bedroom sample, lease terms, or property-condition detail. Neither the burden share nor any vacancy category establishes a tenant’s payment experience, a unit’s condition, or whether a particular dwelling can be rented now. Property-level verification should compare the live advertised asking amount with the exact bedroom configuration, identify included versus separately charged utilities, confirm the effective lease term and listed recurring or one-time charges, and check current availability. These checks retain the distinctions among the datasets instead of treating them as a unit appraisal.
","findings":[{"body":"The June 2026 ZIP ZORI is $2,876 monthly, and the annual income amount produced at the stated 30% screen is $115,040. That comparison places the arithmetic screen just above the ZCTA median household income of $114,654. It is not a lease approval test, advice, or a measure of what any individual renter pays.","title":"Current index and income screen"},{"body":"ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD standards are deliberately noninterchangeable. ZORI is an observed asking-rent index across rental types; ACS reports a five-year median for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities; HUD provides an administrative, bedroom-specific benchmark. The ZIP’s $2,876 ZORI exceeds the $1,997 ACS median and $2,430 HUD two-bedroom standard, but neither difference establishes a rent trend or unit price.","title":"Three rent concepts, not one market price"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom values are modelled monthly ZIP estimates created by applying local HUD ladder ratios to the blended ZORI. They range from $2,048 to $4,829, while the corresponding HUD standards range from $1,730 to $4,080. The method gives a relative size ladder, not measured rents by bedroom, active inventory, or a promise about any specific dwelling.","title":"Modelled bedroom scale"},{"body":"ACS stock data show 1,011 vacant units, but only 339 fall in the vacant-for-rent category; the remainder is not established as live rental availability. Separately, 53.5% of surveyed renter households report gross-rent burden of 30% or more. These area-level observations describe categories and households, not a particular unit’s availability, condition, or tenant finances.","title":"Survey stock and burden need unit checks"}],"risks":["Using the ZIP ZORI as though it were the advertised price of a named unit can conceal differences in bedroom count, utility charges, condition, timing, and listing availability.","Comparing ACS gross rent directly with current asking rent without its survey population, selected-utility treatment, five-year period, and margin of error can produce a false like-for-like interpretation.","Treating the HUD bedroom standard as a negotiated market rent would confuse an administrative reference with asking-rent evidence and may misstate the meaning of the modelled ladder.","Reading vacant-for-rent counts or area-wide rent burden as evidence that a specific property is open, affordable, or occupied by a particular tenant exceeds the data."],"qa":[{"a":"It uses 96797 in two linked but nonidentical roles: Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the Census ZCTA match used for ACS data. A ZCTA is a statistical area created for tabulation; it is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Consequently, results are area indicators, not address-level records.","q":"How does the report define the geographic label?"},{"a":"The June 2026 ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS median gross rent comes from occupied renter homes in a five-year survey and includes selected utilities. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard. Their dollar differences can be described, but their definitions, populations, and timing prevent substitution.","q":"Why are ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD shown separately?"},{"a":"A modelled estimate for each bedroom count is derived by multiplying ZIP ZORI by that bedroom’s HUD standard divided by the HUD two-bedroom standard. That math holds the local HUD ratios while setting the overall level to ZORI. It does not observe listed or leased rents for studios, one-bedroom, three-bedroom, or four-bedroom units.","q":"How are the bedroom estimates produced?"},{"a":"Confirm the currently advertised rent, exact bedroom configuration, utilities included and separately billed, lease term, recurring or one-time listed charges, and present availability. Also determine whether the listing’s geography and timing correspond to the intended comparison. These facts cannot be inferred from area vacancy, area burden, ZORI, ACS, or HUD alone.","q":"Which facts need property-level confirmation?"}],"sources":[{"key":"apartment_list_time_on_market","name":"Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/category/data-rent-estimates"},{"key":"apartment_list_vacancy","name":"Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/apartment-list-vacancy-index-methodology"},{"key":"census_zcta_facts","name":"Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income","release":"ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs5.html"},{"key":"hud_zip","name":"HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback","release":"ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR 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